You’ve looked wistfully, over the years, at India’s only surviving opera house, wishing for the beautiful baroque structure with a blend of local and international architectural styles to be restored to its former glory. Abha Narain Lambah popped out a wand and breathed new life into it, like she has done with numerous buildings in the country. Magic can’t reckon with bureaucracy, but this soft-spoken lady with nerves of steel has managed to pull off many a coup.

Armed with a master’s degree in architectural conservation from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, she’s clocked in over two decades of experience in the field. Her diligence in research, respectfulness of history, and faithfulness to detail in restoration has led to her being awarded the Sanskriti Award, Eisenhower Fellowship, and the Attingham Trust and Charles Wallace fellowship and being nominated by ArcVision among the top 20 women architects globally in 2016.

Perhaps the 46-year old’s nomadic journey has led to a practical, inclusive attitude to her work. “I am a bit of a gypsy because I don’t think I’ve stayed in any city for more than five years — my father was in a transferable government job. I grew up in many towns, including Kolkata and Delhi. The longest I have been anywhere — now 22 years — is Mumbai, which I consider home. People say the city is crowded and congested, messy and chaotic; but I think there’s a very intrinsic system that works here and at the core of it is a very warm magical world. Every place in the country has a different sensibility, vibe and history. My grandfather in Srinagar lived in an ancient beautiful timber-framed house, and I remember taking a boat down the Jhelum and looking at all the lovely palaces of the Dogra rulers, so this sense of history, of old building ageing with grace, just grew with me as a child and I think that’s what has continued in my work as well.”

Excerpts from a conversation with Narain Lambah….

How did architectural conservation become important to you?
I was studying architecture and was drawn to urban issues that had to do with an interface between the old and the new. I was very keen to learn from American architect Joseph Allen Stein, who designed all the iconic buildings in Delhi like the India International Centre, Ford Foundation and India Habitat Centre. Working in his studio for two years, I began understanding that a lot of design and good architecture has to respond to the context — often historical context. That led me to explore conservation. I believe contextual design is something that is very important, which we haven’t yet mastered in India.

What’s your take on (the lack of) maintaining this architectural balance in Mumbai?
The sad part is that we have beautiful buildings and historical legacy in Mumbai, but our planners (and especially our politicians) haven’t been very sensitive, so there is unplanned growth in pockets. For example, when the mills were demolished, Charles Correa had a great idea for pooling in all the open spaces — we could have had one the size of Central Park in Parel; and because of a really narrow vision, they chopped it off into parcels, so we lost an unbelievable opportunity for the city. And I hope it doesn’t happen again with the eastern waterfront development. We need to look at everything holistically, which somehow gets sacrificed at the altar of political requirements or short- term goals.

We tend to bask in the end result, what’s the process of getting to it?
A lot of time goes in! I started working on the Royal Opera House in 2008 and we opened the building in 2016. Money was an issue, because there are no government funds or incentives for heritage buildings that are privately owned. It was listed among the 100 endangered monuments in the world by the World Monuments Fund, and then when it came to funding it, there was absolutely zero support. It is not economically feasible today to run a theatre or a cinema hall so it was a leap of faith. The whole team and my clients (the owners) took a huge risk, but with a conviction that it’s too precious a building to let go! Then there was red tape and it took numerous years to get permissions. The challenges should have been structural repairs, interior restoration and things like getting the sound and acoustics right or putting in air conditioning in a building that didn’t even have fans to begin with…. But it’s richly rewarding once it’s done.

Bikaner House in New Delhi

What about Bikaner House, Delhi? What was the story there?
Bikaner (House) was amazing, thanks to a chief minister with a sense of clarity and crystal-clear decision-making! Vasundhara Raje said, ‘I want Bikaner House to be the calling card for Rajasthan in Delhi’. She gave us nine months to get our act together, to get the building in shape. We were working with the government, and the same kind of engineers and contractors that are typical, but since she was so clear of the final vision for the project, everything just fell into place. Now we are working on the first floor of the same building, it’s going to get expanded and there will be a little cafe and a bookshop.

Which project is closest to your heart?
I think one of my favourite projects of all time has been the 15th-century Maitreya Buddha temple that I worked on in Basgo, Ladakh (which earned her firm an award of excellence from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for conservation). It was a hard project, lasting three years, with repeated trips while my daughter was very young. It was in a small remote village, without electricity, running water, or lavatories…. A current project I am excited about is working on the Teen Murti House — the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, in Delhi, because it is such a beautiful stately building.

How relevant is heritage today?
“We are losing it too fast! My mother took me to Kanchipuram when I was 10, because she loved buying sarees from the loom, direct from the weaver. I remember it as a magical town with streets of verandahs, timber columns and sloping tiled roofs. Last year I was appointed by the government of India as the city anchor for Kanchipuram, and when I went back I was devastated, because the temple survived, but all those streets and those beautiful rows of houses are replaced by Alucobond and concrete and horrible new buildings. We already lost such a valuable part of our heritage and if now we—this generation—doesn’t do something about it, we won’t have anything left to save in the next few decades.”

What do you consider ‘Indianness’?
‘Indianness’ is not homogenous, it is not a single being, it is like a multi-layered curry with 20 different spices and wafting flavours; you get a note of cinnamon, a hint of clove; you discover later on your palate an aftertaste of asafoetida…and for me that is India. It’s multi-cultured, intense, layered, sometimes conflicting, sometimes contradictory but it is not one single unified whole. For all the chaos, there is still a system in it, there’s a meaning to it.

What does design mean to you?
It is something that is intrinsic — a distillation of a whole lot of feelings and moods. When you try and confuse it with too many things it gets lost. It balances form, functions, aesthetics and yet remains intuitive, because it can’t be put on, acquired or faked.

How do you focus and filter out the noise?
Filtering is as important as listening. When I am approaching a conservation project it’s very important to first establish what the design intent of the original architect was. To keep a certain modesty in your own work and also be true to the spirit of place, while maintaining context — whether it is the geographical, design or material context of that particular site — in a harmonious balance with your own judgement as a designer.

Interiors of Mumbai’s Royal Opera House

Is some of it based on investigation?
Conservation is forensic in its techniques. We have to rely on paint scraps to figure out the oldest layer and original colour, for instance. You have to keep yourself open to looking for clues. In the Royal Opera House, we had no idea balconies existed when we began the project. Research uncovered old photographs which had those balconies, so we removed the art deco panelling and behind it we found skeletal structural members. Rifling through things in the basement, we found the little cherub and a little plaster cast that originally belonged to that balcony, and from that we were able to just piece things together.

You’ve been invited to deliver the Geoffrey Bawa memorial lecture in Sri Lanka….
I feel overwhelmed and humbled. He (Bawa), Joseph Stein and Charles Correa were the most iconic South Asian architects. Woman architects don’t get acknowledged, and even otherwise it’s such an honour. That’s my latest high, so I am going to just soak it in, and promise myself a week in Sri Lanka, living in Geoffrey Bawa’s house and meditating!

Do you feel a sense of achievement?
I just feel a sense of responsibility. I’ve never had a large vision or a master plan — one project led to another, and frustration about a project not moving along led me to something else while waiting; so that’s how my career has found its trajectory.

When will you rest on your laurels?
I don’t want to. I think architects should die with their boots on — or at least at the drafting table! It’s a career where the rewards are very slow; by the time others have retired, you peak as an architect. I worked with Stein in his studio when he was in his eighties, I have seen Correa working till he turned 80 and I don’t want to retire, I want to just work on the projects that will feed my soul.

Raised in Muscat, 30-year-old photographer Anushka Menon left home at the young age of 15, shortly after her father passed away, with just enough money to buy a ticket and pay for a year’s education abroad. After studying art design and communication in Melbourne, she pursued her diploma in photography, which brought her to India. In 2005, she began her career as one of India’s youngest female photographers to have worked in the beauty and fashion industry, leading to an enviable portfolio. Now she is also branching out abroad.

“When I developed my first roll of film, I was hooked. It was a magical experience. I had no idea that I would end up in India and had no idea that there were hardly any women photographers at the time.” The Rolex Watches (2012/13) campaign with brand ambassador Anoushka Shankar, winning accolades and awards, and just this year being signed with One League Creative Management in Cape Town, South Africa, are things she considers milestones professionally. She also teaches and conducts workshops.

Initially she had to face raised eyebrows at being a woman in a male-dominated profession. Top photographers in Delhi turned her down as their assistant. “It took time and patience to build a name and to get myself noticed behind the camera. I struggled to learn the game, I had no one to help me, and I’ve built myself up on my own merit.” The stress and exhaustion led to some trouble with her health and subsequent weight loss, which changed when she could finally get an assistant.

“Every shoot is a challenge and some shoots are more exciting than others. Fulfilling clients’ expectations is intrinsically linked to being able to adapt, transform and bring an idea to life.” She enjoys interacting with talented people and creating beautiful imagery, travelling the world, experiencing fashion and beauty at its best and learning on the job.

Never missing her early morning yoga session, she takes the day head on by getting to her shoots, figuring out briefs and planning the rest of the day. The evening is spent unwinding with her dogs and an occasional glass of wine, while she works on shortlisting the images from the shoot. And to hold it all together, she believes in clear communication and direction and being respectful to her coworkers. Married to Tapan Raj (one half of the band Midival Punditz), she enjoys trying new things like acro yoga, aerial silks, working on music, DJing, and does charity work with dogs.

Anushka, who’s been a part of Verve’s Best Dressed List, used to be very rock chic in her dressing style, but is now more “experimental street style with mature overtones”. Dressing up for an occasion means “wearing heels and make-up”, while she believes “less is more.” Her favourite piece of jewellery is a ring her mother gave her when she got married. “Being successful is about being happy, doing what I love and giving back to those around me.” The go-getter sees herself travelling the world and working on bigger campaigns and extending herself creatively. “I’d like to leave a mark — even if it’s a tiny one.”

Artist, Rouble Nagi, has done more than 800 murals and installations worldwide. She’s a style maven, a mother and runs her own welfare foundation for underprivileged children

“I get inspired by life – it is a learning process and our experiences are a part of it.”

Though Mumbai-based Rouble Nagi studied Fine Art in London’s Slade School of Art, she had actually been painting since she was a little schoolgirl. She can still spend the entire day with a blank sheet and crayons, even though she experiments with materials for her murals and sculptures. Her father was from the armed forces, so travelling and finding inspiration wherever she went was a natural process. “You learn something every day if you just pay attention, the journey through life is just a long learning experience, without a destination. I’m loving it – creating a new milestone every day.”

She has always been inclined towards working in a three-dimensional medium. Murals are her first choice along with installations when it comes to a form of art. “I hope people develop an interest in and liking for public art. The installations are always site specific, as many things including the surroundings have to be taken into consideration.” She always has a strong emotional connect to her work. “Art without emotion isn’t art at all.” The 34-year-old has a mixed roster of patrons for her work, including artistes and Indian cinema personalities – all art lovers with whom she has a personal equation.

Rouble divides her time between her workshop, her family and her NGO. “As an artist I believe I must give back to the people.” She started working along with the NGO Pratham before she started the Rouble Nagi Art Foundation (RNAF) two years ago. “India’s youth is a powerhouse of infinite energy and all we need is to direct their energy in constructive channels that lead to development and progress. RNAF is dedicated to the care, welfare education and rehabilitation of underprivileged children. Equality and not charity is what we believe in.” Despite being passionate about her work and the NGO, she manages to be there for her family, which includes her two-and-a-half-year-old son, Vivaan.

“As the saying goes, ‘Fashion fades but style is eternal’. My confidence is my style quotient; it’s never about how well you dress or the brand you are wearing, it’s about how you carry it. Your style is about who you are.” Always immaculately turned-out, her favourite piece of jewellery remains her wedding ring, to which she has a strong emotional connect.

Rouble Nagi has a powerful mantra for living life meaningfully: “Success isn’t about what you accomplish in your life, it’s about inspiring people to do what they think cannot be done. Success can never assure you happiness, but by being happy with what you are doing, you have already succeeded.”

She has established herself in the art world, has the happy ability to see the lighter side of things, is inspired by nature and is a specialist and head of Christie’s Mumbai sale

“I don’t really have a normal work day, as I spend a lot of my time on road.”

The 35-year-old associate director and head of sale for South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie’s Mumbai is unlikely to be chained to a desk, and probably has the most creative mix of business and pleasure. She was partial to the arts from childhood. After studying sociology at Delhi University – where she spent a good deal of her time competing for the college at music competitions – Sonal Singh created a solid foundation for herself artistically and academically in London: ceramic design at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, modern and contemporary art at Christie’s Education and a Master’s in art business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. After working in the field for a few years, she joined Christie’s in 2007 when the latter decided to expand its operations in India and were looking for a resident specialist.

“Every auction that you work on is exciting – to be able to handle the art at first hand is really the most thrilling experience for someone with my passions! Having said that, being a part of the Christie’s first auction in India (December 2013) was really a dream.” While she interacted with big names in the art world at the India Habitat Centre and worked with many artists at Bodhi Art Gallery, at Christie’s she is consumed by the sheer volume and quality of art that she is exposed to – some of the world’s greatest works. “Seeing the whole process through is really gratifying – first working with the collector and getting the consignment, appraising its value and importance and then seeing it go under the hammer. Negotiating for a work can be hard but getting it into an auction is extremely satisfying; similarly the actual auction can be stressful but when an artwork sets a new record or fetches a good price, it’s the most thrilling experience.”

What would someone who works with works of art like to see on her own walls? “I like the immediacy of works on paper and this is mostly what I’ve bought. I’d love to have works by Gaitonde and Amrita Sher-Gil some day and I would like to start learning more about antiquities, in particular, Gandhara sculptures.” She likes Indian textiles, treasures family jewellery and has recently rediscovered saris, while otherwise she would be likely to be seen in churidaars for formal occasions and jeans-and-shirts on a casual note.

She works as part of a team, with colleagues based in New York, London and Mumbai. They curate auctions and aim to bring together rare, important and exquisite works of art. Not surprisingly, she is often on the move, which works well for her, as she is fascinated with planes. After work, if there aren’t any overseas conference calls scheduled, she finds time for a walk, a gallery opening or catches up with friends for dinner.

“I realised a few years ago that the people in my life are my priority and I try to spend as much time as I can with them.” Sonal Singh believes in living life on her own terms and in creating her own path; and that success is nothing more or less than “making the most of what life gives you”.

She is as vibrant as her novels, and as sharp as her characters. Anuja Chauhan remains unaffected at the best of times

“I identify with every character I write, not just the girls. The heroes, the villains, the sleazy people. They’re all culled from people I know, have observed and am fond of.”

It is as if 43-year-old Anuja Chauhan has come of age early, while retaining a level of humour, innocence and vivacity about her, with her trademark witticism. Growing up, she thought being a Rajput and an army kid was the best thing in the world to be. “It was a big part of my identity and thinking. It still is, though I now realise there is a difference between being foolhardy and being brave, and that in an increasingly shrinking world, the concepts of ‘country’ and ‘nationality’ are rather overrated.”

She ended up in advertising after she read a book her husband (then boyfriend) gave her. Finding it interesting, she did the rounds of the Delhi agencies and took some copy tests. “Getting a job as a copywriter is the easiest thing in the world. Keeping
that job is another thing entirely!” She worked in the ad agency, JWT India, for over 17 years, eventually becoming vice president and executive creative director, before resigning in 2010 to pursue a full-time literary career. Over the years she worked with brands like Pepsi, Kurkure, Mountain Dew and Nokia, creating Pepsi’s Nothing official about it campaign and advertising slogans such as Pepsi’s Yeh Dil Maange More and Oye Bubbly, and Darr ke Aagey Jeet Hai for Mountain Dew. She believes that the biggest milestone for her was growing up, learning teamwork, mentoring and learning to listen.

Now she’s the best-selling author of three literary fiction novels. “Copywriting
is telling somebody else’s story. Essentially, I felt like I wanted to stretch out and write my own stories.” She started writing her first novel, The Zoya Factor, in her spare time while still working. The novel was originally optioned for a film by Red Chillies Entertainment and then resold to Pooja Shetty Deora’s Walkwater Films. The film rights to her second novel, The Battle for Bittora, are with Anil Kapoor Film Company, as she herself moves into writing screenplays for cinema. “Again, it happened very naturally. Filmmakers approached me for the movie rights
to my books – so I sold them, and then people who I couldn’t sell them to, said, ‘Write us a screenplay instead’. So I wrote. But again, it’s a collaborative process. Writing books is still the best thing. You have total control there.”

Married to television presenter and producer, Niret Alva, with three children, Anuja Chauhan has a full life. “Well, the babies are all personal milestones. Their births, the times they’ve done well, the times they’ve gotten ill. Those are the times one grows as a person, learns patience, discipline and humility and gets spiritual.” Her wish for the future is simple: “I just want my children to be healthy and happy and self-sufficient. And I want to spend quality time with my husband.”

Her style quotient consists of three things: comfort, colour and individuality. “My mum had this one jadau sone-ka-haar, which got cut up into four pieces as all her daughters wanted it. I love my bit of it.” Dressing up is wearing a sari. “Or simple clothes and big earrings and lashings of kohl and lipstick.” Inspirations are “all the
people I meet and the conversations I overhear (shamelessly!)” and success is nothing more or less than “peace of mind”.

Waswo X. Waswo critiques the process of “museumification” in a show at Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai

5 Questions: Waswo X. Waswo

1. Artistic Motivation I grew up in an artistic family, so art has been part of my life since day one. It’s sort of a cliche to say art is about communication. Maybe I think about it more as a way to examine issues, and the world around me. It is in large part a way I look outward, but also self-examine.

2. Inspirations I could name a long list of artists and photographers who have inspired me, and still do. But for this particular exhibition I have to name a member of my own family, Ed Green, whose job it was to organise the painting of dioramas in the local natural history museum. This show is all about the issues that arise from that.

3. Art in your home Besides making my own art, I’ve also formed a very large collection of Indian printmaking. That collection was shown last year at the NGMA-Mumbai. So my home is filled with vintage and contemporary etchings and woodcuts by well-known Indian artists. My interest in printmaking is why I asked the young lithographer Subrat Behera Kumar to be a part of this show.

4. Concernsthat show up in your art I’m concerned with how the world is being torn apart, it seems everywhere, by cultural misunderstandings. A large part of my art has been to explore these misunderstandings, and try to learn what creates them.

5. If you weren’t an artist, you would be… Believe it or not, when I was young, I also wanted to work in a museum like my cousin Ed. I dreamt about being a ‘curator’ long before that word came into common usage and fashion. If I hadn’t followed an art career, maybe that is where I would have found myself.

The show Sleeping Through the Museum previews tonight and is on until June 21, 2014 (11pm-6pm) at Sakshi Art Gallery (6/19, Grants Building, 2nd Floor, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba, Mumbai.)

You see The Little Book of Hindu Deities and inevitably think kitsch, mired in the nostalgia of tradition and…cute. Flipping through it, you find yourself amused by artwork that is fresh, appealing and inoffensive; and fascinated by the information that you are, in all likelihood, quite unaware of. And of course, the illustrator’s repertoire is impressive – he is a supervising animator and storyboard artist for Pixar Animation Studios, where he has worked for the last 14 years on features that include Monsters, Inc., A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Ratatouille, WALL-E, The Incredibles, Toy Story 3 and CARS. He has worked on The Simpsons for Fox and also with legendary cartoonist John K. California-based Sanjay Patel sends us an illustrative self-portrait, while replying to our questions via email:

What brings about the interest in Hindu deities?
For a very long time I had zero interest in anything Indian. Growing up in LA with devout Hindu parents, I desperately just wanted to fit in. It was only until I felt comfortable being myself, did I begin to explore Hindu iconography.

Why do you illustrate deities in an irreverent pop-culture format?
To show people a contemporary view of Hindu iconography and their legends. By that I mean, a view from the perspective of someone born between two cultures – the US and India; through the lens of modernism, graphic design, and animation. And from a voice that is rooted in the pop culture of the US and is acutely aware of the relevance of Hinduism and its devotees. This is just a means of communicating with people in my age group, who are culturally disconnected, who love design and animation, who are curious about Hinduism and spirituality, and who just can’t resist something cute.

Do you feel nostalgia about tradition creeping in?
I can’t speak to the sense of nostalgia. For me, having an Indian name, background and face, and yet not ever having set foot on Indian soil, can lead to different longings: to have all the things that make me up coexist in creative space. So it’s been incredibly gratifying to finally bring together my passion for Disney animation with the roots of my parents’ traditions and to forge a new cultural symbol in the form of my books.

Is pop culture the way of life today, or is it a way to subconsciously subvert culture and tradition?
I’ve definitely used the tropes of pop culture to get a message across that culture is changing: that a person that looks Indian could be American, or that a book that looks like cartoon could actually be a visual temple. The Hindu Deities book looks like pure pop-culture candy, but will hopefully enlighten you without giving you a cavity.

What’s your verdict on India’s animation scene?
There is lots of animation work being done in India these days. Most of it is derivative and lacking in its inspiration. But as artists gain confidence, they will undoubtedly begin to create content that is unique. My hope is just as the animation master Hayao Miyazaki manages to tell stories that feel uniquely Japanese, maybe one day there will be Indian animators that will tell tales that feel uniquely rooted to their soil.

Bharti Kher is now considered ‘India’s top woman artist’. We catch up with the 3-time Verve Power Lister post the astounding sale of her sculpture at a recent Sotheby’s auction

Her elephant sculpture, The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own, reportedly sold for a hefty $1.5 million, giving UK-born, India-residing Bharti Kher a permanent residence in the top echelons of artistic stardom. In a quick Q&A:

Artists stray from using traditional symbols of India, but you are popularising them (elephants, bindi etc) as elements with great depth.
It’s not particular to India as such, what I’m interested in is the ready-made and its transformation, and then the cliché and how it sits in our consciousness. When you use something so obvious there has to be subversion.

Every artist strives to have their voice heard and influence public opinion. Do you believe you’ve managed to do that?
I don’t think artists have very powerful voices, we whisper for a long time, perhaps! Maybe people will look at Indian art more, but they have been looking for a long time: this generation has had a lot of exposure already.

Does it bother you that Indians are not the ones purchasing the works; it is a foreign gallery/ foreign collectors?
Yes it would if it was true. Indians do buy my work but less than those from abroad…some major works left when they could have stayed.

Where do you believe Indian artists fall short in terms of gaining international recognition and acceptance?
Indian artists don’t fall short at all, it’s just that the world is a bit slow and needs time to catch up to them!

How does it feel to be one part of a successful couple in the same profession – being married to Subodh Gupta?
We are both working hard right now…we talk, we fight, nothing is easy and we are still sailing.

What attracts you to life-size sculpture?
It creates a relationship with the self. Scale is something I enjoy – whether I want the works to envelope you or seem fragile, so that you (the viewer) feel like a giant or an elf.

Since you work on each piece for a long duration – a few months at a time – do you ever feel that the idea stops mattering to you or changes?
I usually work on many works simultaneously, so none of them ever reach the same level of completion at the same time – therefore the energy is always different at each stage of a work. I have to keep my sanity!

Hypothetically, what do you think your career graph would look like had you remained in the UK and established yourself as an artist from there?
I can’t talk about the things that never were. Maybe I would have been a writer or a mental patient! It’s fun to think about the ‘what ifs’ and go on strange journeys with yourself.

Stand-up comedians are coming of age in a country that loves stage tamasha (real and reel), with international comedians trying their brand of humour here as well

I think I’d never really, really laughed, like laughed-until-I-nearly-peed-in-my-pants until I laughed at a hole-in-the-wall, I-look-ghetto-but-I’m-really-cool place in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The Comedy Cellar had three hilarious men (why is it mainly men who have the balls to say horribly rude things? Is that an obvious answer, anatomically speaking?) who got away with saying incredibly offensive things to some very decent people. And some other very decent people had a major, side-splitting laugh at those other decent people. And not to forget nervous laughter, wondering if you’d be the next target.

There’s something absolutely liberating about going to watch a stand-up comic. It’s also particularly pleasing because here’s a person who’s really putting himself out there. Any other performance artiste may get polite claps, but a stand-up comic rarely ever benefits from anything polite. In the split second after he’s said his line, the laughter should come rolling in, and if it doesn’t, it’s not even a pregnant pause, it’s deeply embarrassing. To then keep going, have the courage to move right onto the next joke, to often poke fun at oneself, is something that makes the comic endearing; and if he’s one of those witty, vicious, mean ones who are just out to tear you apart (for all the times they’ve never been laughed at) it makes him someone to be feared.

Stand-up comics in India in the English language are few, but growing more every day as we discover actual comedy clubs that offer a permanent podium for the travelling comics, international comics and local ones. It is no longer about renting a space at a hotel, holding stage in an auditorium; it’s about having an identity of your own. After touring India last year, The Comedy Store has arrived at Palladium, Phoenix Mills, Mumbai, where Jo Caulfied, a female comic is performing this month, from July 8 to 11.

STAND-UP TONIC

31-year-old Vir Das has been on the comedy circuit for five years, done about 2000 acts, written his own, hosted TV shows, acted in Hindi cinema (most recently seen in Badmaash Company), started India’s first comedy rock band, Alien Chutney, and his company Wierdass Comedy has started India’s first ever open mic for amateur comedians. Early next year he will be seen in Aamir Khan Productions’ Delhi Belly.

So facing the people of the West and India…
I think the Indian audience requires a little more homework. You have to work a little harder to warm them up in the first five minutes, but once you do, they are a louder and better audience than any.

It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there….
I am nervous before each show. You never really know how it’s going to go. My jokes are like throwing darts at a board, some of them stick and some of them end up biting you in the ass.

The three things you find really funny:
Women, women and women!

How much is improv?
Performing comedy is like cooking live. It’s hard to tell where it’s going to go; you are constantly adjusting to audiences’ laughter levels and room energies. There is a heavy amount of improvisation in my shows.

What’s the scene with international comedians coming to India?
Indians are a very seasoned comedy audience. I also think they know that every foreign comedian is not a good comedian. Therefore, when you claim to be an English comedian in India, given that everyone has mainly seen a Seinfeld, Cosby, Carlin or Murphy, the bar is bloody high.

And you wanted to be a comedian because?
Circumstance. There is a certain humour that comes with having nothing to lose. The toughest situations in my life have been the funniest. All I did was write them down.

Irrepressible fiction writer Rupa Gulab is back with another tale to tell, the story of 40-something Mantra who quits her job and battles everything that can possibly go wrong at that time in her life, exploring the vicissitudes of midlife crises. Sitanshi Talati Parikh in a freewheeling chat with the author

What’s fun? Writing the book or planning the book?
Planning a book is great fun. You just scribble notes while you’re lazing in bed eating chocolates and feel like you’ve accomplished a big deal! Writing a book, however, is hard work. My characters rarely act according to my plans – they’re stubborn, annoying, and insist on doing their own thing. It’s a huge struggle making them toe the line – very often, I have this overpowering urge to get them brutally murdered. Maybe I should start writing crime novels instead!

As you grow older, do your characters age with you?
That’s not strictly true. My next book after Girl Alone was for a younger target audience (Chip of the Old Blockhead) – a thirteen-year-old coming to terms with the fact that her divorced parents are falling in love with each other again – and experiencing her first crush as well. I don’t necessarily write for my own age group – I like to believe that I write for women of all ages.

Situations are not really funny when they are happening are they? But in retrospect….
Oh, I absolutely agree – everything looks better in retrospect. I always make it a point to look back with laughter. When you continue to be bitter and resentful, you need to consume gallons of antacids – and I hate, hate, hate antacids – they taste like chalk!

Do you think it really helps an average woman to read about another and find solace?
Yes it does help – particularly if you identify with the character’s problems. Why do you think chick lit always sells? Most single women enjoy reading about the trials and tribulations of other single women. You don’t feel so alone then. It’s a great comfort read. A Girl Alone fan once told me that she re-reads my book on those date-less Friday nights.

So it’s the end of fantasy for women?
Books don’t end fantasies – real life does!

Is there a greater social comment about a woman like Mantra, who feels a loss of control over her life?
I wouldn’t say that it’s a social comment. It’s just something that happens to most of us when we hit the big four-oh. That’s when you realise that almost half your life is over and the other half is not remotely attractive or promising at all: wrinkles, failing eyesight, depression and the desperate, irrational feeling that this is your very last chance to achieve what you really, really want; whether it’s your love life, career, whatever.

Mantra is placed in a higher social bracket. But a woman doesn’t become secure without basic financial trouble does she?
Money can’t buy happiness. We all learn that – sometimes the hard way.

Do you ever find the man in your stories insecure, or is it just the woman?
In my first book, Girl Alone, only the female characters were insecure. That’s because they were in their late twenties/early thirties: single, psycho and looking for love. The male characters were, as men that age usually are, rabid commitment-phobes. In The Great Depression of the 40s, all the characters are insecure about different things – including the three male characters. Vir is worried about losing his job – his stress levels are extremely high. While Karan doesn’t dissuade his wife from meeting her ex-boyfriend, he’s not exactly comfortable with it – the wily fox needs to see them interact every now and then to get a feel of the situation. And the college-going Rohan is miserable and mopey when his cool girlfriend insists on a no strings attached relationship. In the real world, everyone is insecure!

It sounds like you pretty much put into words what you are thinking….
I write exactly as I think. And the reason why I mainly do satire is because I can see through most people and situations. I have to confess that I have the most horrible, terrible nicknames for people in my head – but you can’t blame me for it because I got this from my mum. What can I say – I have lousy genes!

What do you turn, to read?
I’m a fairly eclectic reader, but I stick to fiction. Mainly humour, with a little bit of intensity every now and then. I have way too many favourite authors to list, but I must say that P.G. Wodehouse continues to be a hot favourite. He’s a great pick-me-up when I’m down. He dries tears better than Kleenex tissues.

So you’ve knocked out the 30s, 40s and the teens. What’s next?
I have two strong plots in mind – one for young adults and the other for the chick lit brigade, but I have no idea right now which one I’ll go with eventually. I just want to flake out for a bit – the characters in The Great Depression of the 40s have left me emotionally drained. I really should have killed a few of them!

THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 40s
Rupa Gulab
Penguin India

Gulab’s sardonic wit hasn’t dissipated over time, in fact it has become more reined in with it’s well-crafted barbs. While you warm to the characters, and envision their lives in a midlife crisis, it helps you understand relationships and people as they change with time. The insecurities are all the same, the circumstances and decisions to deal with those insecurities vary. Gulab’s self-referencing – with her lead character attempting to write a novel and towards the end of the story reaching the idea of The Great Depression of the 40s – serves the purpose of reminding the readers that they are like one of the characters in some way, either pining for a bygone time, or harping for something out of their reach. If Gulab were to concentrate less on structured witticism, more on the depth of her characters, especially the male ones, the book would be eminently heart-warming, but would lack the punch that makes it inherently her own style. ‘Marriage ruthlessly strips away all pretences of common interests,’ is what Gulab has her protagonist thinking, and goes on to prove how fragile and yet how solid marriages can actually be. After all, as her characters prove, it is what we make of it.